Page 87 of Cruelly Fated
Beastly eyes stared back at me. No Kyon in their depths.
I stifled a scream as he prowled closer, the space shrinking by the second. Right as his snout dipped down and his lip peeled to reveal rows of fangs, I whispered his name.
His eyes, still monstrous, flickered. Just once. The tiniest hitch of hesitation.
My throat squeezed.
“Kyon…?”
KYON
Darkness clung to the edges of my mind like tar. Commands boomed through the static:hunt, destroy, obey.I couldn’t stop my limbs from moving, couldn’t choke down the snarl building deep in my throat. The collar cinched around my neck throbbed with power, its ancient magic unraveling everything human inside me.
And still, I fought back.
Her scent sliced through the smoke—peaches and cream. Soft, warm, and undeniably hers.
The dragon inside me stirred, confused. Then it snarled.Prey.
The cage yawned open, and she stepped out.
A jolt ripped through me.This is wrong.
Chase,the command whispered again, from some external place, some outside force driving me forward. I lunged, talons gouging stone, heat rolling through my lungs. I heard her labored breathing, saw the panic in the stiff curve of her shoulders, and I hounded her.
Stones cracked under my weight. The tunnels blurred. She darted ahead with impressive speed and agility and the rawinstinct of a creature who wanted to live. My dragon roared his approval.Faster.
Beneath the bloodlust, other emotions brewed to the surface.Flesh we know. Eyes we trust. Mine.
The bond pulsed like a drumbeat through my skull, fighting the fog. A thread of gold in the dark. She wasn’t prey. She wasmy mate.
My head jerked, wings twitching. Confusion slashed through the fire. The predator wanted to pounce, but my soul reeled back.
She turned a corner and I followed. Then she stopped, trapped in a dead end. I entered the chamber, each tread an inner battle with my beast. Smoke curled from my nostrils. My jaw unhinged enough for the fire to bloom when ordered.
She peered at me.
My limbs trembled. Heat built in my chest, but not the kind I could unleash. Her violet eyes burned into mine. My claws scraped stone, ready to lunge…
She breathed my name.
And I froze.
Not because of Torian’s command. Not because the collar thrummed with a different tune. But becauseshecalled on me.
My gaze locked on hers, and for a fleeting second, I felt it. The hollow tear in the fog. The crack in the commands.
Kyon,she whispered across the bond.
Her voice struck a lifeline directly to my heart. Something primal and sacred surged inside me—mine, mine,mate—but not in the way the beast understood. She was my mate. Not a target. Not prey, but the girl I would die for. Kill for.
My claws twitched. My jaws eased as I shoved the dragon aside and came back.
Click,click, click.
The soft sound, no louder than fingers snapping, cracked through the cave like a hammer slamming down on my humanity. The collar ignited in a pale gold blaze. Magic surged through my spine, detonating like firecrackers in my brain. My vision fractured.
No—
